Planning and designing an airport is exciting. You will have the opportunity in Module . For this activity, you will learn how to determine runway headings and lengths. Throughout Chapter 9, runway designation, classification, and wind coverage are covered. A planner must provide adequate runway coverage for crosswinds. The FAA recommends the number and orientation of runways should be that the crosswind coverage is at least 95%. Specifically, if the prevailing winds were from the East (090 degrees), your #1 design for a runway would be 09/27. If you cannot build this runway for some reason, you will have to build an airport with at least two runways. In addition, each aircraft has different characteristics, and a planner must know which aircraft will be using the airfield. Once orientation is determined, length of the runway is critical. This is based on an Aircraft Classification Reference Code and an Airport Reference Code.
For this activity, search your chapter reading and the Internet to present a 2 page research paper with accompanying diagrams discussing the criteria used to determine runway orientation and length. Explain aircraft reference codes, airport reference codes, single, parallel, Open V and intersecting runways, and lastly, what criteria should a planner use in determining runway length. Include with your paper, a diagram of the four types of runway mentioned above with correct runway orientation for each runway presented.
